BIOS & Overclocking Software
If you don't like red, start poutin' because the BIOS continues the Fatal1ty color scheme. The great thing about this motherboard is the endless array of overclocking options available that cater to even the most hardcore users. Apart from your usual settings and tweaking options you'd find on your grandma's Dell, the µGuru utility (µ = micro) is the main tweak setting place where you want to be. It houses the two principal categories of options. First is the OC Guru and second is ABIT EQ. Within OC Guru you'll notice settings such as the CPU operating speed and voltage control settings. As for what you can actually do, well rest assured you can tweak your CPU bus in 1MHz increments from 200 to 400MHz. For CPU voltages, you can go from 1.3000V to a toasty 2.0750V in 0.025V increments. DIMM (RAM) voltage can go from 1.75V to a high 2.30V in 0.05V increments. Lastly, the Northbridge and Southbridge voltages can range from 1.20V to 1.50V and 1.50V to 2.00V in 0.05V and 0.10V increments, respectively.


Obviously the Fatal1ty AN9 is no joke when it comes to overclocking options. Having been around for so long sometimes people forget that Uabit is one of the earliest overclocking-friendly companies on the block. The second half of the µGuru menu is the ABIT EQ. This area primarily pertains to temperature indicators, warnings, voltage indicators, and fan speeds. We haven't touched the DRAM configuration yet, but rest assured every single option available ever is included in the menu settings. Trcd, Trp, Tras, Command Rates, it's all there, and for that Uabit has to be commended for not pussyfootin' and giving gamers exactly what they want in a BIOS. We all know the saying goes that NVIDIA's odd numbered chipsets are inferior compared to their even ones, but it's really a hit or miss proposition since overclocking even with identical gear on great systems may not result in the overclock you're looking for.

Besides the BIOS options that most avid overclockers are comfortable with, Uabit includes the µGuru applet within the Windows OS for ultimate tweaking. Now I know what you might be saying to yourself, "bleh, it's just a cut-down crappier version of what the BIOS is, I'll pass!" Well go ahead and pass but you won't collect $200 since the real deal about the chipset tech and µGuru is that it allows for real time seamless tweaking of the principal motherboard BIOS options for even finer tuning. The application itself is easily one of the ugliest I've ever seen in my life, but in reality no one is going to care when they realize how invaluable this application is to fully tweaking their setup. The three primary menus, ABIT EQ, OC Guru, and FAN EQ, offer different stats on what your current system temperatures, voltage settings, and real time low and high readings are. It's obvious Uabit software designers tried to make the interface Winamp-esque in the customization aspect, but the other skins you can choose from are just ten times uglier. Still, at least they tried.


The real meat and potatoes is found in the setup menu where you can really configure your overclocking options to the nth degree. The endless array of warning indicators, beeps, and automatic shutdowns are a real convenience and can save your system from potential disaster by reseting your CMOS to default settings upon reboot. You may or may not have fried a processor, but getting that sinking feeling in your stomach that you just fried a couple of Ben Franklins with a mouse click sucks. Undoubtedly someone will try to push their system too far, so big ups to Uabit for including such a necessary safety feature. The OC Guru section allows you to increase CPU clock speed and voltages for DRAM, Northbridge and Southbridge among other options that can really put you in the drivers seat. As you begin tweaking your system you realize that it's nice to be able to overclock and run a stress testing application such as Orthos without having to reboot. By the way, under LED Effect Control is where you can change the repeat pattern of the mobo's red LED lights that swirl and pulsate at your desire.


For our particular purposes we went easy on the AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ with a mild 10% overclock to 2640MHz from a stock 2400MHz as detailed in our AMD Athlon 64 Overclocking Guide. This can be done at the flick of a switch and further overclocking will undoubtedly let you reach higher speeds, but a 10% overclock isn't too shabby and puts our CPU at the level of a AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ processor. Sure it ain't Intel's Core 2 Duo, but you play with the cards you're dealt, and for the rest of this review we'll give you a peek at the boost that even a mild overclock such as this one can do to your system performance numbers. We know you are accustomed to seeing monster overclocks around here, but not every chip is made equal, and sometimes even the biggest boost does jack squat to help out in the most demanding games of today (in real world situations).